MARK'S MEMORIES (and sometimes, Grampa's Gripes!)
Almost snuffed diving (1970):
Although many of my memories are good ones, some of them are not. Like everybody else, I guess. Many of my best memories have to do with the ocean. One was learning to skindive and making my first wetsuit out of a roll of neoprene and glue with the help of my Explorer Post leader, a former US Navy underwater demolition man named Ken in Santa Rosa, California. He had to have been so patient with us, but I mostly remember us doing it, not his involvement. Sad. I remember my buddy Warren and I making him one after mine, too. Warren's gone now and I sure miss him. Then I finally got certified for SCUBA even though I had been diving with tanks for a few years without certification. Friends, including Ken, had compressors in their garages. Ironically, I earned my certification in a college course while attending grad school at the University of Utah, and passed my dive test in a mineral springs lake on the Saxon Gunnery Range in Nevada, some miles south of Wendover. It was quite an experience since I almost died that day. My dive buddy, Dan Boone, saved my life. (No, kids! It wasn't that Daniel Boone, and I am not that old!) See I had my own tank that I was using and it was only a 45 cu. ft. tank, unlike the 72 cu. ft. tanks of the others in my class, and it had a k-valve on it, not a j-valve, so I had no reserve on the tank. I was diving in about 75 feet of water when I ran out of air. Our instructor, Roy, who was also a State Park Ranger, had a double regulator, meaning he had another mouthpiece on his tank so two could breathe on it at once. That was supposed to allow for a safer class. Well, first you had to catch up with him and Roy was really trucking when I ran out of air, so after expending some of the oxygen in my blood trying to catch him, and failing, I headed for the surface in a panic. Thankfully, my buddy Dan, saw what was happening and followed me up, buddy-breathing off his regulator and tank all the way to the surface. It had been especially hairy because I had exhaled all the air in my lungs just as I ran out and the tank was too dry to give me a last breath! I will always be grateful to Dan Boone, wherever he is! We hadn't been down long enough for me to worry about the bends, and we remembered to exhale on the way up so no problem with embolisms. I'm sure glad I had a prayer that morning with Sally before we went. Yep, she was there at the surface when I came up. Was I ever glad to see her smiling face again!
Dolphin dead on the rocks - 12/1/11
I had a little unexpected excitement this afternoon at about 3 pm. I went outside to get the mail and a woman stopped her car at our driveway to ask directions on getting down to the beach. She was a volunteer with the Oregon Marine Mammal Stranding Network and they had a report of a stranded, probably dead, dolphin on our beach. After giving her directions I decided to grab my camera and go down to the beach to see if I could get a shot of it. She was just getting out of her car and putting on her backpack when I got to the path, not sure exactly where the path was. She had gone out to the parking are on mortgage hill (where the fancy houses are) to see if she could spot it, and how high the tide was. Anyway, we went down there together and walked way down over lots of rocks and some sand to where we could spot it. It was at the farthest South end on the rocks below Yaquina Head, but the tide was coming in so we didn't want to risk getting cutoff from the access path. I took some pics from about 50-75 yards away and blew them up. This one was about the best one. Can't tell its gender, but the blow hole is visible and the dorsal fin. I may go back down in the morning - low tide is at 8am. We'll see. (9:15 AM on 12/2 - Nah! I have to get into town to hang artwork in the annual pushpin show at the VAC. Sorry, folks!)
Dead Salmon Shark on the Beach
About 2 1/2 years ago I found this five foot salmon shark on the beach. I didn't know about salmon sharks at the time and thought it might be a small great white, but with some research found that these smaller sharks prey on the salmon off the coast of Oregon, and are not uncommonly found in the nets or on the hooks of the fishermen. This one was probably just such a by-catch, killed and thrown back by a fisherman, since it was competing for the same fish. I used a photo of this guy to do some artwork I call "Electro-Shark!" (See below.)
So that reminds me of the other shark in my life since moving to Newport, Oregon. This shark is one of the sculptures that I have made out of driftwood and it is now on our living room wall above another one of a dolphin. Here it is shown above a gallery wrap print of Edgardo Garcia's which we bought on our one trip to Hawaii a few years ago - the one where Anika joined us, the year before she met Paul. We had a really good time, but the water was not as clear as we would have liked for snorkeling. We spend three days at the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) - what fun! And then we basically saw most of the island of Oahu along the shore - Dole Pineapple Plantation, Macadamia Nut Farm, BYU Hawaii campus, green turtle beach on the north shore, a pearl store, and the LDS Temple in Lahie. Maybe I can add more photos here from that trip. I have sold about twenty or so of these sculptures now, including one of a horse in a shadow box, priced from $25 to $125. It is what got me into the Yaquina Art Association (YAA) and that has been a great adventure, as well, where I have made some good friends, and embarked on a more artistic lifestyle.